Star Gazing
by WhatUpMyPeeps
Summary: "People are like stars; some shine bright, while others are dull. You are one of the brightest..." Tratie One-shot. Post Titian war. Very minor mentions of character death. Fluff.


**This is my first try at writing something that doesn't have to do with Leo, it is also my first try at writing some romance type stuff and hurt-comfort, so constructive criticism is accepted. For those of you reading WOD the next chapter should be out soon, and I will be having a new poll on my profile about which word I should do next. That being said, I already have the word for the next chapter picked out. It's Immobile. That's all I'm giving you for right now, so enjoy and check out the poll! **

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything, except Leo who is currently tied up and gagged in my closet. Never mind, he just blew up my closet. Now I don't even own him. :(**

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3rd person P.O.V

Travis was stealthily making his way to Cabin Three, pie in hand,(because come on who wouldn't love to be woken up in the middle of the night by a cream pie to the face?), when he first heard the crying.

Travis wasn't overly surprised by this; many people had lost loved ones during the war. That was partly why he was now on his way to live up to the expectations of being one of the best prankers ever to hit Long Island. In his opinion people were being way too sad. Sure, Travis had lost loved ones too, (namely his youngest sister Mia who was only ten) but people needed to move on. That is what he is trying to help people do, or so he thought, in truth it just annoyed everyone.

But, there was something different about this sobbing. It was coming from above and sounded vaguely familiar.

Travis turned to look around and saw that he was next to the Demeter Cabin. He was about to shrug it off when he heard the sobbing increase until it was bordering on hysteria. Travis briefly wondered how no one else was awake.

"Why?" the person choked out, "Why do these things happen? She was a good person!"

His curiosity now peaked; Travis climbed the ladder to the roof of the Demeter Cabin, which was covered in grass and other plants. Immediately he located the source of the crying, one Katie Gardner. She was sitting on a blanket and hugging, was that a pair of gardening gloves, to her chest as she cried.

Travis was shocked, Katie never cries. He cautiously approached her, but she didn't even register that someone was on the roof with her. He wondered how he should approach her. He briefly thought he should shove the pie in her face, but even with his limited experience with crying girls, Travis knew that was not the right thing to do.

He decided on setting the pie down and sitting next to Katie. Her teary face snapped up and she exchanged her sobs for a scowl.

"What are you doing here, Stoll?" Katie tried to sound threatening, and would have succeeded if her voice hadn't cracked.

"A better question is what are you doing here, Katie-Kat?" Travis countered.

"I live here, idiot."

"On the roof?" He said with a small smile.

"You know what I meant."

"Yah I know what you meant. I meant what are you doing sitting on the roof crying at 2:30 in the morning." He replied, suddenly serious.

"Nothing." Was her simple reply to his uncharacteristically serious question.

"It doesn't look like nothing." There was a heavy silence between them, broken only by the sound of hundreds of crickets making what sounded like to Travis a mournful lament for loved ones lost.

Katie interrupted his musing, by sniffing and stating, "I had a nightmare about Miranda."

Ahh, that made sense to Travis. Katie's sister Miranda Gardner had been killed in the recent Titian War. Stabbed by one of Kronos' turncoat demigods if he remembered correctly.

"Oh." Was his all he said. There was another silence in which the crickets resumed their sorrowful song. This time it was Travis himself who broke it.

"Do you want to talk about it?" He asked hesitantly. Honestly he wasn't expecting her to answer, he was just trying to be, and queue gasps,_ nice_. The reason for this was that Travis remembered how hard it was for him when Mia died, but at least he had had Connor to lean on. He didn't think that Katie had anyone.

She didn't answer, just shook her head and began crying again.

Travis was at a loss for what to do. He vaguely recalled something about putting your arm around a girl to comfort her. Or was that when you were trying to make a move? Travis wasn't sure, but he didn't have any better ideas so he gave it a go.

Katie looked up in surprise when Travis slid closer to her and put his arm around her shoulders.

"What the Hades are you doing, Stoll?" Again Katie tried to yell and again she failed.

Travis snatched his arm back. That was not the reaction he had been expecting.

"I was trying to comfort you! I thought that's what I was supposed to do!" Was Travis' response.

"Oh, I thought you were trying to make a move. Wait, why are _you _trying to comfort me?"

Travis' face reddened, "Oh, I was, uh, well, I just thought that you needed it. I remember when Mia died; I was a mess until Connor helped me."

Katie's face softened. She was silent for a moment, then burst out, "I let her die!" She started to sob once again.

Travis jumped. "What do you mean you let her die?"

Katie sniffed, "She was standing right behind me, one of Kronos' demigods stood right in front of me. I stepped aside just as he lunged, and he hit her straight in the heart with his knife. It was my fault I didn't know she was behind me!" Katie was now nearing hysteria again, but this time she was clinging to Travis, who was at a loss for words. He decided to just let her cry herself out and turned his head to watch the stars.

As he watched he noticed that the stars all had different variations of brightness. This gave him an idea. First he needed Katie to calm down. As if she had heard his thoughts, Katie's crying began to lessen. It was now only at crying when you're hurt level, instead of your sister died and it's your fault level. It was now that Travis decided to speak.

"You know, people are like stars; some shine bright while others are dull. You are one of the brightest, and I don't think Miranda would want you to become dull on her account."

Katie's tears stopped for a moment, and she stared at him as if he was an alien from another planet. Her voice was scratchy as she asked him, "When did you become so physiological?"

Travis smirked at the opening she gave him, "I was born this way, Katie-Kat." She slapped him. Hard.

"Ow! What was that for?!" Travis yelped.

"For being a conceited idiot."

"I am not conceit-" He was cut off by another slap.

"That was for lying." She leaned quickly leaned over and gave him a peck on the cheek. "That was for saying something right for a change."

Travis was speechless. Katie-freaking-Gardner had just kissed him, it was on the cheek, but still!

She laughed at the look on his face. He mock glared at her, his mind still reeling from the kiss.

Katie took his silence as an opportunity to say something.

"You're fairly bright yourself, annoying, but bright." Travis just smiled at her and they fell into a companionable silence.

This time it was broken by Katie who had noticed something on the other side of Travis.

"Hey, Travis, why do you have a pie?"

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**And done! My first one-shot that's over 1,000 words! Whoo! Review and tell me how I did, please, its (almost) Christmas. **

**Peace,**

**Peeps**


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